What is a paper?
● Gao Huimin
I participated in the paper review of the Leshan "Hard-tipped Calligraphy Theory Seminar", and now I have won the first, second and third prizes I'm sorry, but I'm really not satisfied with the results. Because, regardless of the writers or reviewers, everyone has a very different understanding of the nature and approach of the paper. Therefore, although many articles are well written, whether they can really be called "papers", privately, I Quite confused.
If you are writing for newspapers and magazines, any subject matter or form will do; as long as it is meaningful and readers like to read it, it will be qualified for publication and may be called a "good article". As for papers, there should be another set of standards to follow.
The title of the paper, that is, your argument, should be clear, new, and different. If it is the same, the effort of tens of thousands of words will not be worthwhile - you Everyone already understands and agrees with his views and principles, so nagging him again will not help matters or others.
With new views and different insights, it will be attractive to readers. Then the question arises: "Is it really so?" He wants to listen to your argument and see if what you say is really reasonable. So your task is to "justify your explanation" - you must put forward this condition and that reason, and the process and logic of deduction must be causal and precise, so that your statement can be convincing. Writing a paper is like doing a geometric proof question. During the writing process, all efforts should be focused on the "argument" of "because...therefore...". Through your research and presentation, you can clearly present the evidence and make the truth impeccable. This is the nature and approach of the paper. Thesis should be a text of argument and proof, rather than an expression of feelings or a description of things. Most of the articles I saw this time were summaries of experience, practical experiences, or summaries of situations - things cannot be said to be bad, and they may not be without value, but if this is a "thesis" discussion, I think it cannot be compared with The writing and defense of papers in academic forums or schools are on the same level, or at least they are separated by a layer of fog. To take a step back, it doesn't matter if the theory is not high enough or the academic content is not strong, but at least the awareness of argumentation must be greatly strengthened to be close to authenticity.
So, when I browsed this batch of "papers", I felt like: I was originally here to discuss the taste of dumplings, but what I was served were all kinds of noodles. So the final result was judged by He can only be the leader of noodles but not the champion of dumplings. It’s not that noodles are bad, the problem is that all the authors originally went for the dumplings, but how come they all look like noodles?
Many people may not be convinced when I say this, so I will give an example to provide some circumstantial evidence:
For example, I want to write an article "The life of hard-tipped calligraphy lies in youth." 》——When readers see this title, they will naturally feel that it is contradictory to the saying in calligraphy that "everyone is old and his writing is old", so they are waiting to see how you prove it and how you explain the truth.
There are three nouns in the title, which form a certain logical relationship. Therefore, when developing the discussion, these three concepts must be involved; more importantly, sufficient reasons must be used to demonstrate why "hard-pen calligraphy" has no "life" unless it is "young".
At the beginning of the paper, I will talk about hard-pen calligraphy, such as when it started and when it became big, what are the successful works and influential people, and what is the approximate age at which they became famous? Age...
In the following, the main part of the paper should be based on "young", which can be proved from the following aspects:
1. Engage in the creation of hard-pen calligraphy The people who promoted it and promoted it were young people in their prime at that time, and the main groups who accepted and learned it were also primary and secondary school students and young workers, peasants and soldiers. In other words, this circle is suitable for young people rather than old people.
Writing this, two exceptions will come to mind: first, the current leader is no longer young, and second, there are also old people who have written such as "Quick Pen Writing" and so on. So, first, I will argue that "old people" are actually outdated. They are actually doing more organizing and selection work, and the new generation's calligraphy concepts and levels have far surpassed those of their predecessors; second, what the old people wrote has Reference value, but what really matters among young people is their own taste and temperament.
Second, the mainstream style of hard-pen calligraphy lies in vigor, precision and freshness.
You can choose a large number of examples to prove this paragraph: Copybooks or works that are best-selling in the market and have won many awards are often not the sophisticated, clumsy, and profound type advocated by brush calligraphy. You can tell me the reason: the hard pen itself has strong, thin and hard lines, and its "delicate" characteristics determine that it is not suitable for development in the direction of vigorous, extensive, and large-scale. We can also give a negative example. If the handwriting is muddy, slow and heavy, people will not be used to it and will not welcome it.
Third, the above-mentioned characteristics of hard-pen calligraphy can only be done better and more authentically by young people who are responsive and energetic.
For example, even a slight error in the details will not matter; there is no room for accommodation for the old man's thickness or trembling; even the old masters of hard pens have to wear reading glasses to write. It’s difficult to do it consciously. What’s more, we can talk about the advantages of being young in terms of creating new trends, being precise, and having the courage to try.
Fourth, objectively speaking, the development of hard-tipped calligraphy has also put forward new requirements for layout design and decorative forms. Only by keeping up with the times can we gain favor and praise. And this is also the patent of young people and not the ability of old people. Wait, wait.
Through the above examples, it can be seen that I "established" the "theory" of "youth" and focused on it to demonstrate from many aspects such as object, style, characteristics, form, etc. Regardless of the final result of the agreement, the awareness of the argument has always been very strong, without any deflection or relaxation.
At the seminar, everyone also found that most of the arguments were based on the use of brushes to prove pens. After all, hard pens can be used, and soft pens can also be used - this is also the basis of the "hard-pen calligraphy theory" A weak spot. I give this example as a reminder: Since it is a hard-edged theory, funds should be "used exclusively for special purposes": other people's cannot replace ours, and ours can only be the most appropriate and useful for our own home.
You can also come up with some reasons to prove that not being "young" is not enough. For such an article, I hope that those who are interested will continue to write it; at the same time, I also welcome counter-arguments to prove that "not young" is okay. All in all, the point of view must be clear and the reasons must be sufficient. If you say that your opinion is reasonable, you must prove it through rigorous proof to win people's trust. This is the basic feature and attribute of the paper.
I think that in the future, if everyone can work hard to explore the uniqueness of the hard-pen theory, this will ensure the true value and function of the "hard-pen theory"; if you have more awareness of "argument", you can put your If my opinions are well-founded and clear-cut, I won’t be afraid of being looked down upon by others, nor will I be afraid of the outside world saying that I don’t even understand the basics of writing a paper.